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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

Marion Post Wolcott was a prominent American photographer who worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression, documenting poverty and deprivation. When she was young, her parents separated when she was born in New Jersey. Marion Went to boarding school. She was surrounded by her mother’s friends: artists, writers, filmmakers, and photographers. Marion’s mother’s friends encouraged her to live and discover who she was.

As she traveled the country’s East Coast, she was acutely aware of the financial ruin that followed the Wall Street crash, affecting so many Americans. Her sister Helen invited her to stay with her in Vienna. They studied photography together under the tutelage of Austrian photographer Trude Fleischmann (1895-1990). During her time in Vienna, Marion witnessed the brutal rise of the National Socialists. Marion and her sister returned to the United States. Marion’s experiences in Vienna led her to join the Anti-Fascist group.

During the Great Depression, the Farm Security Administration hired Marion Post to document the lives of working-class people in America. She photographed the lives of Americans whose work was often back-breaking, thankless, and unknown to most US citizens. Post met Leon Oliver Wolcott, then Deputy Director of War Relations for the US Department of Agriculture, in 1941. They married and started a family. While raising a family, Post found it challenging to continue her photographic career. She gave up focusing on becoming Mrs. Post Wolcott.

#1 Hotel Clark on Beale Street, Memphis, 1939.

Hotel Clark on Beale Street, Memphis, 1939.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#2 Children from Wadesboro, North Carolina, 1938 by Marion Post Wolcott

Children from Wadesboro, North Carolina, 1938 by Marion Post Wolcott

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#3 Three children sitting on the porch of a house, 1940.

Three children sitting on the porch of a house, 1940.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#4 Workers returning home in evening, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1935

Workers returning home in evening, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1935

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#5 Outside the movie house, Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939.

Outside the movie house, Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee, October 1939.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#6 Beale Street, Memphis, 1939.

Beale Street, Memphis, 1939.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#7 Asher Laundry, New Orleans, 1940.

Asher Laundry, New Orleans, 1940.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#8 Payday, coal mining town, Omar, West Virginia, September 1938.

Payday, coal mining town, Omar, West Virginia, September 1938.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#9 Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee. Rex Billiard Hall for Colored, 1939.

Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee. Rex Billiard Hall for Colored, 1939.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#10 Tobacco workers at the Russell Spears’ farm, Lexington, Kentucky, 1940.

Tobacco workers at the Russell Spears’ farm, Lexington, Kentucky, 1940.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#11 Workers packing citrus for distribution, 1939.

Workers packing citrus for distribution, 1939.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#12 Corn shucking on Uncle Henry Garrett’s place, Tally Ho, near Stem, Granville County, North Carolina, 1939.

Corn shucking on Uncle Henry Garrett’s place, Tally Ho, near Stem, Granville County, North Carolina, 1939.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#13 Coal miner, Capels, McDowell County, West Virginia, 1938.

Coal miner, Capels, McDowell County, West Virginia, 1938.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#14 Coal miner’s wife washing clothes on front porch, Chaplin, West Virginia, 1938.

Coal miner’s wife washing clothes on front porch, Chaplin, West Virginia, 1938.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#15 Coal mine tipple, Capels, McDowell County, Appalachia, West Virginia, 1938.

Coal mine tipple, Capels, McDowell County, Appalachia, West Virginia, 1938.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#16 Woman washing clothes outside of shacks along the river, on the highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, 1938.

Woman washing clothes outside of shacks along the river, on the highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, 1938.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#17 A trapper and his children taking muskrat pelts into the FSA (Farm Security Administration) auction sale held in a dancehall on Delacroix Island, Louisiana, 1941.

A trapper and his children taking muskrat pelts into the FSA (Farm Security Administration) auction sale held in a dancehall on Delacroix Island, Louisiana, 1941.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#18 A mother and her youngest child, Coffee County, Alabama, 1938.

A mother and her youngest child, Coffee County, Alabama, 1938.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#19 Children dancing around a maypole, Alabama, 1939.

Children dancing around a maypole, Alabama, 1939.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#20 Children cross a swing bridge, Hazard, Kentucky, 1940.

Children cross a swing bridge, Hazard, Kentucky, 1940.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#21 Migratory laborers playing checkers in front of a ‘jook joint’ during slack season for vegetable pickers. Belle Glade, Florida, 1941.

Migratory laborers playing checkers in front of a ‘jook joint’ during slack season for vegetable pickers. Belle Glade, Florida, 1941.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#22 Migratory laborers outside of a ‘juke joint’ during a slack season, Belle Glade, Florida, February 1941.

Migratory laborers outside of a ‘juke joint’ during a slack season, Belle Glade, Florida, February 1941.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#23 Living quarters and “juke joint” for migratory workers, a slack season; Belle Glade, Fla.

Living quarters and “juke joint” for migratory workers, a slack season; Belle Glade, Fla.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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#24 Marion Post Wolcott with Rolleiflex camera, Montgomery County, Maryland, January 1940.

Marion Post Wolcott with Rolleiflex camera, Montgomery County, Maryland, January 1940.

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Stunning Photos documenting Life of Working-Class Americans During the Great Depression by Marion Post Wolcott

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Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

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